Hello fello mirage sailers, I'm a newbie. I went out today on a sail trip at the Florida keys. Winds were about 15 knots. While I was putting the mast in the holder it wouldn't go all the way down and clip in with that latch. I banged it down a few times and finally clipped in. When I went out after about 5 min and a few miles away the sail mast came out of the holder. It didn't cone out all the way but this military guy took a crap. Anyways I rolled up the sail and peddled back home. So can anyone explain what happened. I was filming when it happened. Any input will help.

Check that the reefing spool on the mast hasn't come loose and rode up a little. If it did, it will need to be repositioned and epoxied. I've had it happen twice (2 different AI's) and now add a seam of epoxy above and below the spool to hold it better.

Leaving loose can cause severe damage, so don't do that. The mast can pop up and then when pulled by wind or mainsheet tension it could fracture the tube and even the mast... bend the receiver furling hardware. Not good.

If it was not a problem in the past and is now appearing... I would lean towards the drum moving as suggested by "reconlon".

I bought it used from a rental place. He showed me spnw logs and has about 30 hrs on it. It's got some scratches on it but just cosmetic. I love it almost more then a real boat IV jumped 4 ft waves in it becoming almost all airborn. Maybe the rough waters loosens the spool.

Ok I found out the issue, the drum become a bit loose but took care. It with some PVC glue. The real issue is the broken bolt that holds the cup were the mast goes into with some metal bars support. That bolt broke making the whole system unstable. I have to find a way to get that bolt out without damaging the hull plastic. Any suggestions? Because I just paddled 3 miles into 10 mph winds against the current and if I stopped peddling I would hve drifted into th gulf of Mexico lol